In a decisive ruling, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed a lawsuit seeking the removal of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office.
The suit, filed by Ambrose Owuru, the presidential candidate of the Hope Democratic Party in the 2019 elections, was branded "frivolous" by the apex court, which unanimously ruled against it.
Led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, a five-member panel imposed a fine of N5 million on Owuru, cautioning him against filing baseless legal actions in the future. The court also instructed its Registry to reject any similar filings from Owuru moving forward.
Owuru's suit made explosive allegations, claiming that President Tinubu was an active agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and unfit for office.
Additionally, he pointed to Tinubu's alleged involvement in a drug-related forfeiture case in the United States, wherein $460,000 was surrendered to the U.S. government.
Owuru sought to invoke Section 157 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution to disqualify Tinubu, accusing him of being under foreign influence. However, the Supreme Court found no merit in the claims, dismissing them as lacking substance.
This is not the first time Owuru has challenged election outcomes in Nigeria. In 2019, he also sought to nullify President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure, alleging that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) manipulated the presidential election.
He claimed to have won a "referendum" held before the February 23, 2019 polls, which he alleged garnered him over 50 million votes—a number he said surpassed those of all other candidates.
Owuru argued that Buhari's presidency was illegal, maintaining that he was the rightful winner of the 2019 election and that Buhari usurped his mandate.
In the current suit, Owuru extended his argument by demanding that Tinubu's disqualification should lead to his immediate inauguration as president.
Alongside Tinubu, Owuru named former President Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation, and INEC as defendants in the suit. The court, however, found no evidence to support Owuru’s claims against any of the parties.
This ruling reaffirms President Tinubu’s legitimacy and serves as a warning against the misuse of the judicial system for political theatrics.